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For most of his forty-five-year career, Mick Jagger has had one songwriting partner: Keith Richards. But outside of the Rolling Stones, he has teamed up with Jeff Beck, David Bowie, Peter Tosh and Bono; gotten production help from Rick Rubin and John Lennon; and scored a movie, Alfie, with Dave Stewart. A new collection, The Very Best of Mick Jagger, gathers Jagger's favorites, including killer solo cuts ("Don't Tear Me Up"), unreleased gems ("Too Many Cooks") and even a track from a shelved 1992 blues album he cut with an L.A. club band. Jagger talks about some key tracks:

"Joy" – 2001 Jagger asked Bono to sing on this track because it had a strong gospel vibe. "I had to go seek him out in this little town in Germany [where U2 were on tour]," Jagger says. "We cut it at this little hotel in the middle of the woods. He had a terrible cold. If the shoe had been on the other foot, I would have told him to come back in a week, but he was so sweet about it and did his best to sing. In the end, he sounded great."

"Too Many Cooks (Spoil the Soup)" – Unreleased, 1973 John Lennon led a weekly series of jam sessions during his infamous "lost weekend," a debauched eighteen-month period when he separated from Yoko Ono and moved to Los Angeles. Jagger sat in on some of the Sunday sessions at L.A.'s Record Plant, taking the vocals on this funky Willie Dixon cover — which also features Harry Nilsson on backing vocals, Al Kooper on keyboards and Cream's Jack Bruce on bass. "It was a pretty crazy time for John," says Jagger, "but he did some interesting things. He wasn't always lost."

"Just Another Night" – 1985 The lead single from Jagger's 1985 solo debut, She's the Boss, was the most successful of his career, reaching Number Twelve on the Billboard Hot 100 — but the singer isn't crazy about it. "It has that Eighties sort of slur from the recording techniques they used then," he says. "That big echoey backbeat. It was the first days of sample drum machines and stuff, which is now considered very wrong."

"Don't Tear Me Up" – 1993 Jagger recruited Rick Rubin to produce his third solo album, Wondering Spirit, after hearing the Red Hot Chili Peppers' Blood Sugar Sex Magik. "We had quite a few rows," Jagger says of the producer. "I respect his opinions, but when we disagreed I said, 'It's my record, I'm singing it, and it's my opinion that counts.'" Despite the tension, Jagger was pleased by the final result — especially on this tender ballad. "All the instruments and the vocals sound quite close to you, there's very little reverb," Jagger says. "It's the antithesis of the 'Just Another Night' sound. The fashion swung in the complete opposite direction."

"Checkin' Up on My Baby" – Unreleased, 1992 Jagger cut this raw Sonny Boy Williamson cover with an L.A. club band called the Red Devils, which he discovered while in town recording Wandering Spirit. Over two afternoons, they laid down a dozen or so traditional blues numbers that evoked the Stones' earliest recordings, but the songs were never released. "It was like being back in 1963 and singing blues on Tuesday nights," Jagger says. "It has a nice roll to it."

"(You Gotta Walk and) Don't Look Back" – 1978 For Peter Tosh's 1978 debut for Rolling Stones Records, Bush Doctor, Tosh duetted with Jagger on a reggae rendition of this 1965 Temptations cover. "Peter was an edgy guy and was frustrated a lot of the time," Jagger says. "Bob Marley got so big, and that probably annoyed him." The two performed the song together on Saturday Night Live. "I wore this ridiculous outfit," Jagger says, "a pink cap and lots of tape all over me. I don't know why — red sticky tape!"

"Dancing in the Street" – 1985 At Bob Geldof's urging, longtime friends Jagger and David Bowie teamed up to cover the Marcha and the Vandellas' classic for the original Live Aid in 1985. "We banged it out in just two takes," says Jagger. The same day, they shot a video in which the two prance around in the streets — Bowie in a bizarre leopard-print jumpsuit and Jagger in neon. "It was fantastically Eighties!" says Jagger. The song shot to Number One on the U.K. singles chart and became an MTV staple. "It was an interesting exercise in how you can do something in twenty-four hours without worrying too much," he says.